What is the maximum point on a mass diagram the location of?

What is the maximum point on a mass diagram the location of?

• A. The zero balance line
• B. The fill transitions into cut
• C. The cut transitions into fill
• D. Waste region

Answer: (C)

In a mass diagram for earthwork, you track the cumulative balance of cut and fill as you move along the alignment, with the curve rising where you’re cutting more than filling and falling where filling overtakes cutting. The zero balance line marks the point where cumulative cut equals cumulative fill—net earthwork is zero there. The maximum point on the diagram occurs at the location where you have the largest stockpile of excavated material, i.e., where the curve stops rising and starts to fall as fill begins to dominate. That moment is the transition from cut to fill. So the maximum point corresponds to where cut transitions into fill. The zero balance line isn’t the maximum, and the opposite transition (fill transitioning into cut) describes the opposite side of the balance. The waste region is unrelated to the peak of the mass diagram.

In a mass diagram for earthwork, you track the cumulative balance of cut and fill as you move along the alignment, with the curve rising where you’re cutting more than filling and falling where filling overtakes cutting. The zero balance line marks the point where cumulative cut equals cumulative fill—net earthwork is zero there.

The maximum point on the diagram occurs at the location where you have the largest stockpile of excavated material, i.e., where the curve stops rising and starts to fall as fill begins to dominate. That moment is the transition from cut to fill. So the maximum point corresponds to where cut transitions into fill. The zero balance line isn’t the maximum, and the opposite transition (fill transitioning into cut) describes the opposite side of the balance. The waste region is unrelated to the peak of the mass diagram.